By Microsoft just announced that 2012 will introduce Kinect designed for Windows PCs. Kinect has brought gaming to another dimension by allowing Xbox 360 users to interact and move similar to the way Wii players can.
Even though Kinect has been used by hackers on PCs in many interesting and improvised ways, the innovative product will be desktop integrated, bringing along some hardware improvements. Hearing rumors about it is one thing, but actually having a release date means that Microsoft Kinect for Windows is really on the way.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, has talked about Kinect for Windows at CES 2011, saying that “We’re trying to move beyond gaming – to include the world of socialization movies, TV and music – and we’re trying to make the whole experience accessible to everybody in the family, not just the traditional gamers. It’s all stuff that you could integrate into a multitude of devices, whether it’s phones or it’s PCs, or anything that requires some sort of input.”
The dedicated Kinect for Windows PCs will come with improvements like a shorter USB cable, a dongle that will give users the possibility of coupling with other USB devices and a better camera. With the depth camera, Kinect will be able to track objects accurately for as close as 50 cm and have a “graceful degradation down to 40 centimeters”, according to Microsoft.
And that’s not all. Microsoft is also working on commercial license for Kinect that will give developers the legal rights to sell “commercial applications based on Kinect for Windows SDK”. Maybe next year, we’ll find out that Microsoft is thinking about taking gaming yet to another level: Kinect Mobile.
